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The PDSA’s 2013 Animal Wellbeing report collected data from over 17,000 owners, vets and children – and discovered that awareness of how to care for our nation’s pets is still worryingly low.

The summary for dogs is below:

Some of the highlight statistics are shown below:

Only 17% of pet owners look at body shape and weight before deciding how much to feed.

85% of vets and vet nurses believe that the majority of owners have no understanding of what a healthy body shape looks like for their pet.

2% of dogs showed aggression towards people.

5% of dogs showed aggression towards other pets.

The proportion of dog owners who leave their pet alone in the house for five hours or more during a weekday has increased significantly from 18% in 2011 to 25% now.

There is an increase in the proportion of dog owners who have not registered their pet with a vet, believing they don’t feel there is a need to since they can ‘just turn up’ (48%, up from 35% in 2011).

38% of owners are familiar with the Animal Welfare Act and the five welfare needs contained within it, a decrease from 45% in 2011.

Over a quarter (26%) of owners do no research at all before taking on a pet, an increase from 24% in 2011.